Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Alaska Board of Fish Will Hear Pcod Proposals in Winter Meeting

Commercial fishing proposals on the Alaska Board of Fisheries agenda regarding harvesting of Pacific cod within state waters will be heard during the Nov. 30-Dec. 7 meeting of the board in Anchorage.

The decision came during a teleconference on May 26 during which the fisheries board voted unanimously to move Pacific cod proposals from the agenda of Feb. 23-March 3, 2016 of Alaska Peninsula/Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands/Chignik meeting, which will be in Anchorage.

The board also approved moving two days of the Alaska Peninsula meeting to the Bristol Bay meeting, which would likely extend that meeting to Dec. 9.

Since the December meeting would then conflict with the start of the winter meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage, the Pacific cod proposals may be considered at the start of the fisheries board’s November-December meeting, according to Ernie Weiss, natural resources director for the Aleutians East Borough.

The fisheries board received 10 letters of public comment on the agenda change, nine of them in support of the new date. A change of date was urged because the Alaska Peninsula/Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands/Chignik meeting falls during the state waters Pacific cod fishery.

The Board of Fisheries proposal book for upcoming meets will be online in late July or early August, including a number of proposals on the Pacific cod state waters fisheries. In general they relate to the length of and dates for various Pacific cod fisheries within state waters.

While hard copies of the proposal book are available, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game also offers the complete proposal book online at www.adfg.alaska.gov

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